There’s a home here in Charlotte, Mi 48813 ?

Kathy, before you get attached to that house, find out whether it has already gone to sheriff's sale. In Michigan that single fact decides whether you can buy it at all right now, and it is the piece nobody has told you. Michigan has a redemption period after the foreclosure sale. Under MCL 600.3240 it runs six months if the borrower still owed more than two thirds of the original loan amount, and a full year if they owed less than two thirds. Most cases are the six month version. During that window the former owner can pay off and take the property back, and importantly, they generally get to keep living there. A purchaser at sheriff's sale receives a Sheriff's Deed but does not get possession until redemption expires. There is one exception: if the property is legally abandoned, redemption can shorten to 30 days after the sale or until the abandonment notice expires, whichever is later. What that means practically for 420 Prairie Street: If it has not gone to sheriff's sale yet, it is a pre foreclosure. It is not for sale unless the owner chooses to sell, and you would be dealing with the owner and possibly a short sale with the lender. It is also not something you can just tour. If it is in the redemption period, you generally cannot buy it or see inside it. You wait. If redemption has expired and the lender took it back, it is REO, and it will typically be listed on the MLS with an agent. That is when you can tour it and write an offer like any other purchase. Here is how to find out which of the three it is, for free: Call the Eaton County Register of Deeds and ask what is recorded against the address. A recorded Sheriff's Deed tells you the sale already happened and gives you the date, and from that date you can count the redemption window. Check the Eaton County sheriff's sale notices and the local legal news publication where foreclosure notices are published. Search the address on the MLS through any local agent. If it is REO and listed, it will show up immediately, and any Charlotte area agent can send you the listing and set a showing. One caution on foreclosures generally. You typically buy them as is, often with no seller disclosure, sometimes without an interior inspection, and occupied properties can come with eviction costs and unpaid taxes or liens. Get a title search before you commit any money. A property that looks cheap and has 14,000 dollars in delinquent taxes is not cheap. I am Zoltan Peresztegi, a real estate professional in the Los Angeles South Bay, so I cannot pull that Michigan listing or show you the house. But any agent in the Charlotte and Lansing area can do all three of those checks in about an hour at no cost to you, and I would start with that call. Zoltan

Are you aware that purchasing an auction property is not like purchasing a traditional home with traditional showings and viewing windows? These almost always are sold as is and cash is the preferred purchase method; unless it makes it to a REO agent and gets traditionally listed by the bank.

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